Kensington releases "Pro Fit washable keyboard", can be washed with water and detergent

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by Hilbert Hagedoorn, Jul 27, 2020.

  1. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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  2. cryohellinc

    cryohellinc Ancient Guru

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    aaannnd it's rubber dome.
     
  3. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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    There's nothing wrong with rubber dome keyboards for normal usage. In fact, all these news items and articles you see here on Guru3D are typed on that.
     
  4. cryohellinc

    cryohellinc Ancient Guru

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    Nothing is wrong with them, however, as a keyboard modder and enthusiast I just hate the feeling of typing on them.

    Give Topre a go, If you like rubber dome, you will just love the Topre experience.
     
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  5. Fox2232

    Fox2232 Guest

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    For gaming, they are better than most of mechanical switches. And Topre is no different here. It is still 4mm travel key that switches ON before bottoming out. And while they claim variable actuation point controlled by software, it relies on extreme precision of each electrical element. Here mechanical keys have advantage.

    My mechanical keyboard is not any better. Early trigger=late release. Total travel 3.5mm does not change much on it.
    For gaming, I would take 2.5mm total travel with trigger between 1mm and 0.5mm from bottom.

    Your Topre and my current keyboards are more for pianist type of people. I am more of classical "typewriter" person who expects to bottom out with force.

    Currently I am aware of:
    Omron B3KL
    Gateron Low Profile Red (Blue has bad reset point)
     
  6. slyphnier

    slyphnier Guest

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    topre realforce for gaming i think u should check their gaming line-up
    like : https://www.realforce.co.jp/products/R2A-JP4G-BK/
    default travel still 4mm (you can custom with key-spacer, for 2mm or 3mm) but APC (actuation point) can be set to 1.5mm (or 2.2mm / 3mm)
     
  7. wavetrex

    wavetrex Ancient Guru

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    This is a special purpose product for special cases (library, internet cafe, public computer etc., which happen to be quite common in Asia).

    Mechanical switches have no relevance in this use case, nobody cares about what kind of contacts the keys have when only using the computer for a few hours or less.
     
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  8. Fox2232

    Fox2232 Guest

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    Details are not bad. But here's something:
    They state use of 2 and 3 mm spacers on keys with total travel 4mm. That reduces total travel to minimum of 1mm, yet minimum distance to trigger key-press is 1.5mm.
    Reducing travel to 2mm and actuation distance to 1,5mm is good. But statements are just bit conflicting.
     
  9. CronoGraal

    CronoGraal Ancient Guru

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    i used to wash my old rubber dome in a similar fashion :)
     
  10. schmidtbag

    schmidtbag Ancient Guru

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    I don't think it's possible to make a washable keyboard with mechanical switches. It's not hard to make the membrane water-tight, but there's no cost effective way to make mechanical switches water-tight.

    This is a good kind of product to have, regardless of COVID.


    Unpopular opinion:
    I don't see the fuss over mechanical keyboards. Yes, the old clacky IBM keyboards were satisfying to type on and I'm sure the Cherry MX blue switches are too, but otherwise they're a lot more money without a lot more of an advantage. People talk about mechanical keyboards like it's the only way to type or play games. I bought into the hype and although it is better, it's not much better. The feel isn't as special as people make it out to be, the loudness can be distracting, and it didn't improve any skills. I do not see myself buying another mechanical keyboard again, except maybe a blue switch keyboard for non-gaming purposes. I don't regret the brown switch keyboard I bought but I'd rather save myself the money and get a decent membrane keyboard.
    I'm a touch-typist. On average, I operate 3 completely different keyboards on a daily basis (not always the same keyboards either) and I hardly notice when I switch keyboards, even if the layout is different. I just don't get how someone can be so fussy about such a thing.

    Reminds me a lot of people who rave about driving a manual transmission. Yeah, it is more fun and engaging, but people make driving a manual out to be "the only way to have fun driving" or "the most connected you can be with the machine" and that's just nonsense.

    Sometimes it seems like people just use these less-common products as an excuse to feel more special. There's nothing wrong with having a preference - you do you, but it's really obnoxious when people act like the common product is so inferior.
     

  11. RyuzakiL

    RyuzakiL Active Member

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    This is the post that I've been waiting for, I'm still using my trusty Logitech K230 and although I always press the NUM lock key as my muscle finger thought it's the backspace button, I still like the quiet typing experience it provides unlike the Redragon Vara k551 that made me wear my earphones whenever I type. Thus, I will never ride any hype train again.
     
  12. CPC_RedDawn

    CPC_RedDawn Ancient Guru

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    I'll take 2..... :D Capture.PNG
     
  13. cryohellinc

    cryohellinc Ancient Guru

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    That's some scam - they are expensive, but not so much.

    This is mine, for example, price is still the same.
     
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  14. CronoGraal

    CronoGraal Ancient Guru

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    People make manual driving out to be more fun and engaging, which it admittedly is...I don't think anyone is gatekeeping it as the only way to have fun while driving though.
     
  15. Halulam

    Halulam Member

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    What with people on this website ? bringing everythings to their gaming hobby...

    This is a simple and practical keyboard, not everyone need to constantly game with their PC for them to get something like an expensive mech keyboard, I hate when people start patronizing on tech websites and start questioning the relevance of everythings not gaming related..

    Tech hardware are not only for gaming !
     
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  16. schmidtbag

    schmidtbag Ancient Guru

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    Ehh.... you'd be surprised. There are people who will legit judge you for driving a sports car with an automatic, or will go out of their way to swap in a manual for a car that never had one offered, despite the disadvantages in doing so. There are people who dislike electric cars because there's no gears to row through and no "soul" (whatever that means). A lot of people treat driving a manual as though it's a rite of passage to being a "real driver", even though it's really not that hard. So, much like mechanical keyboards, I bought into the hype, and although I don't regret it, the hype is just so overblown.
    Honestly... if I could pick between this washable keyboard and a new mechanical keyboard, I'll choose the washable one. It'd serve me well in my workshop.
     
  17. slyphnier

    slyphnier Guest

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    yeah i thought the same at first, like when using 3mm keyspacer with 1.5mm apc, it should causing no-input issue, but so far i am not hearing something like that

    from review (https://www.pc-koubou.jp/magazine/1533), 3mm keyspacer can only be use with 1.5mm apc, setting it with 2.2mm apc will giving no-input issue

    so imo it is related to software/switch - pressure tolerance
    think like, when set to 2.2mm then it need to up to 2.2mm to actuate, but the switch should not actuate above it
    as when without key-spacer by bottoming a key, it will always definitely actuate the key despite the APC settings, right?
     
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  18. MonstroMart

    MonstroMart Maha Guru

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    Not in a city imo. I would not drive manual where i live. Full of lights, stop, steep hills, blocked roads because of events, etc ... there's a steep hill close to where i live and to avoid it you must make a significant detour. In winter if you need to stop in the middle (happens often) of that hill with someone close to your back it's game over. I've seen a couple of mayday from manual drivers who doesn't know the place and decided not to avoid the hill with slippery conditions.
     
  19. Backstabak

    Backstabak Master Guru

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    I used to have a washable keyboard a few years ago. Didn't buy it for the feature, but tried it once. It does work and all, but it just dries a couple of hours and it was better and faster to just pop the keys, clean them and underneath them with alcohol and reassemble it again. Not sure about disinfectant either, since you would really have to wash it with detergent and water, while alcohol based solutions would work on any keyboard anyway.
     

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